"riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs..."
Almost every week, I’ve worked with tutees who were reticent, but honest-to-goodness reluctant writers have been few in number. The only reluctant tutee I can remember came in to the writing center a couple weeks ago:
On a dark and stormy Wednesday night, Cameron and I were faithfully sentrying our posts. As usual, we were exploring the nethermost reaches of human cognition.
Meta-Michael: ...and THAT’S why a CCV-based phonotactics paradigm is utterly risible!
Meta-Cameron: Risible, you say? Utterly, you say? Bah! CCV may be rare, even unlikely, but it’s still possible. Difficult, yes, but definitely possible.
Meta-Tutee: Umm... Hi.
In the tempestuous ardor of philosophical discourse, we had forgotten to keep an eye on the door. How long had that meta-tutee been standing there?
Meta-Cameron: Here to talk about some writing?
Meta-Tutee: Umm... yeah.
Meta-Cameron: Great! Meta-Michael will be happy to help you.
Meta-Michael: Why don’t you have a seat here at the table? We’ll go ahead and get started.
Meta-Tutee: ‘kay.
Meta-Michael: Could you tell me a little bit about the assignment? [The assignment was fairly singular, and in the interest of the student’s anonymity, the nature of this assignment has been changed in the lines below.]
Meta-Tutee: It’s a sociology project. We had to observe some advertisements here on campus, find something that stood out to us, and tie it in to some of the vocabulary we learned.
Meta-Michael: Okay. Do you have any particular concerns about this paper? Anything you want me to especially look for?
Meta-Tutee: Umm... grammar. Flow, maybe.
Meta-Michael: Anything else?
Meta-Tutee: Umm... No. Not really. Meta-Tutee slides his paper across the table to Meta-Michael, leans back in his chair, and folds his arms.
Meta-Michael’s unspoken thoughts: Oh, boy.
Meta-Michael: Why don’t we read through your paper together?
The look on Meta-Tutee’s face: Dude, you’ve GOT to be joking.
Meta-Tutee: Umm... ‘kay.
James Joyce: If you're trying to mimic my stylistics, good sir, you're failing quite horribly.
We read through his introduction, correcting some minor grammar errors. The Meta-Tutee didn’t seem to mind reading his own work, but as we proceeded to the body paragraphs, his patience was, somehow, strained.
Meta-Michael: All these paragraphs are pretty short. Usually, a well-developed paragraph will have more than just two sentences. Maybe we could combine some of these shorter paragraphs into larger ones.
Meta-Tutee hesitates.
Meta-Michael: Could you explain these scientific terms to me? Maybe we could combine them into some larger ideas.
Meta-Tutee: But... But I thought you can only have one idea per paragraph.
Meta-Michael: You’re exactly right. I think your essay would be much stronger, however, if we found some larger, umbrella ideas to help organize some of these details. Could you help me understand some of these terms you use?
Meta-Tutee is silent and averts his eyes. Meta-Michael asks further questions about some of the terms, trying to discern their specialized meanings.
Meta-Tutee: No, no. It’s not... Not really... No.
The look on Meta-Tutee’s face: How much longer till I can go home?
The clock: Eight thirty-five.
Meta-Cameron: Oh! Is that sociology? Mind if I lend a little assistance?
Visibly, no words could have been sweeter to the ears of the very flustered Meta-Tutee and Meta-Michael.
To make a short story shorter, the situation was resolved by Cameron to tutoring in my place. Overall, the session went alright, but defensive minimalist tutoring, I think, would have been of immense help. Or perhaps it would be even more expedient to reschedule the session for a later time. If nothing else, the session with the “sociology" student provided valuable experience, and hopefully, I’ll be better prepared to work with reluctant students in the future. I like to think that Mr. Joyce would agree.
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